Becoming the Richest Man Alive
Chapter 283

Chapter 283

In their shock, the crowd recoiled as one upon taking in the new development. They hadn’t expectedthat Harold would go on a rampage like that. From the way they saw it, it seemed likely that a fightwould soon break out, and they prepared themselves to flee.

Meanwhile, Gunther exchanged glances with the two shooters. The second Casper gave the word, thetrio would proceed to take this casino down.

“Do you think this is the first time I’ve had a gun pointed at me? You’re actually using a mere cane toscare me off? Although you may be old and I can understand that you’re unable to come to a decision,this is ultimately merely a simple gamble. Haven’t we all been gambling and facing the odds ever sincewe were born? Every decision we make is a gamble based on whatever information we had at thetime,” remarked Eugene with a cold smile even as Harold prodded at him with his cane.

As he spoke, Eugene put out his cigarette using his palm. Despite the burns he received from the heatof the flame, he seemed unaffected by the scorching temperature and didn’t seem to mind it much.

He rested his weight on the desk and used it as a support to get up from his seat. Following this, heflashed his crippled right arm at Harold and said, “We both knew what we were getting into when westarted gambling. It’s never as simple as losing a mere finger or two. Although you claimed to havewashed your hands off gambling when you opened this casino, you’ve actually been gambling thisentire time! You’ve never given it up! The very moment you started operations, you should’ve beenprepared to lose it all and close down. Since you want to win money from others, you have to makesure you experienced the thrill of a possible loss as well. Everything has been fated to be the secondyou sat down at this rummy table.”

Harold was literally taken aback by Eugene’s intimidating stature and retreated several steps back fromhim. Eugene saw this and chuckled as he lit another cigarette and declared, “There’s no escaping fromit tonight! It’s either I bring the casino down with me, or you join me in a game of life and death at thistable!”

With that, Eugene pulled open his shirt to reveal the jet-black grenade that lay beneath.

The crowd in the casino started to scream in terror, and even Harold and Michael were taken bysurprise. Only Casper knew that this grenade was fake, and thus he didn’t have much of a reaction.

Back then, when Casper had hidden the gun amongst the cash, Eugene had taken the opportunity toconceal the grenade therein as well. After all, he was the one who had told Casper that the staff at thecasino wouldn’t search the money.

“Don’t move! Not a single muscle!” ordered Eugene in a resounding tone that carried throughout thespace to strike every single soul in the gambling house.

“Gunther!” exclaimed Casper. With that one shout, a single figure stood out and weaved smoothlythrough the crowd like a seasoned predator. In just a few seconds, several men from Horington Casinofell before his hands.

This was the pre-arranged signal that Casper and Gunther had established before the meet. If he onlywanted Gunther to move alone, he would call for him by name. On the other hand, if he wanted theentire trio to act, Casper would yell, “Move!”

As such, the remaining pair remained silent and hidden amongst the crowd. This would ensure thatthey could project a more intimidating and useful presence when the critical time came for theiractivation.

Harold took in this scene and immediately guessed that Casper had emplaced other men within thecasino to wait in ambush. The fear and shock in his eyes were evident as he exclaimed, “All right! I seewhat’s going on now! You’ve made such advanced and extensive preparations just so you could snatchaway my money!”

“Snatch?” asked Eugene.

He grabbed hold of the grenade and pointed to the crowd surrounding them as he chuckled and said,“Aren’t you snatching away and stealing money from these people as well? Don’t forget. This isn’t alegal casino but rather an underground one. Every single cent you make here is illegal. In fact, this isthe filthiest corner of the city. Look at the people around you! They’re either those who have beenmanipulated and made use of by others or those who have been doing the manipulating. The former isbeing squeezed dry, whereas the latter is making use of your facilities to launder their money.”

“If I didn’t make such preparations, I would have been fully taken advantage of by you like the firstgroup of people I mentioned. There wouldn’t be a single cent left to my name. As such, I brought thishere only to ensure that we can arrange for a fair gambling match,” continued Eugene as he gesturedtoward Harold with the grenade in his hand, which rendered the latter so frightened that he duckedaway.

At this point, Eugene chuckled at his mention of the concept of fairness in a casino. He kept thegrenade away and took his seat at the table once again.

“Come on. I’ll leave the choice to you,” remarked Eugene as he patted at the chips by his side. Hecontinued, “Your first choice is to let me use this eighty million in chips to finish the remaining fourrounds of our match. If you’re lucky, you can win the money back, but if you’re not, you would stand tolose another eighty million. However, if you manage to middle your way through this, you would onlylose these chips I have right here.”

Eugene spoke carefully and at a measured pace to ensure that each word was carved indelibly inHarold’s mind. He continued, “If that’s the case, the damage and losses you’ve suffered tonight will stillbe acceptable. Even if people knew that there are issues with your casino, they will ultimately stillreturn. After all, which casino doesn’t have something fishy going on the backend?”

Finally, Eugene added, “Your second choice is to clear off all the debts you’re tracking on your account.Whatever wins and losses you’ve racked up in the past won’t count any longer. Distribute the winnings

equally. Since you have the chance to win all our money, we should have the opportunity to do thesame to you as well. Now, without any cameras or conniving techniques at hand, let us finish our matchbefore all these eyewitnesses! Starting bet will be ten million!”

An awkward silence ensued in the gambling house as everyone considered the ramifications ofEugene’s proposal. The silence was only punctuated by the occasional whirring of the slot machinesand their moving mechanical components, as well as the steady thumping of everyone’s hearts as theywaited in anticipation. Finally, Harold broke the silence and said, “I choose the second option.”

Once the chips had been reassigned, each person now held about forty million worth of chips in theirpossession. However, they were fully aware that this was still insufficient for use since the starting betalready amounted to ten million. With that starting amount, anyone could easily walk away with triple ofthat amount just by winning via the lowest possible tier available in the match.

Everyone held their breath in anticipation as they waited anxiously. Casper was no exception.

Only the last four rounds of the match remained, and Casper made sure to play each of his hands withutmost caution. In the first round, he managed to get one over the other players by securing an easyvictory. Once he accounted for the bonuses, that meant he racked up a win of sixty million from eachplayer for that round.

He couldn’t believe what had happened, and his arms trembled as he realized that he had managed tomake more than a hundred million just like that.

As there weren’t sufficient chips for the game, they used the chips that represented a ten-thousanddenomination to represent a hundred thousand. With that, Michael, Harold, and Eugene each tossedsix of such chips over to Casper.

At this point, Eugene suddenly exclaimed, “Surely you don’t intend to exclude your student’s sharewhen we do the final accounting later on, do you?”

Michael’s face turned pale-white in response since he had long considered such a possibility. If hemade a mistake later on or lost quite a sizeable amount of money, the debts he would incur would besubstantially reduced if Harold evicted him from the game.

“What are you thinking, Michael? Who do you think has been providing for you and guiding you alongthis whole time?” asked Harold incredulously as he took in Michael’s expression and realized the latterwas contemplating that option.

Michael hurriedly replied, “Of course, it’s you! I wasn’t thinking of anything else. I’m loyal only to you.”

“Hmph! Don’t you dare let your imagination roam wild! These people can’t be trusted, and they’re noteasy to deal with!” exhorted Harold firmly as he brought Michael’s musings to a screeching halt.

As this was going on, the game had already arrived at the second round, and it was clear that everyonewas preparing to play major hands of their own. As they continued to guess at what cards theiropponents were holding on to, they simultaneously devised strategies to let their teammates get whatthey needed to win. It was such an intense match that if something went awry, it was easy for any oneof them to dive too deep and fall into a bottomless abyss.

At this stage of the game, Casper’s hands were drenched in sweat amidst the tension that permeatedthe space. Although an amount in the hundreds of millions wasn’t much to him personally, this was acritical moment. He turned to look at Eugene and saw that the latter had become serious despite hisusual poker face and inscrutable expression. The cigarette he was smoking had very nearly burnt to itsend.

“Game!” yelled Eugene.

He had seen the card that Harold had thrown out, and his eyes flashed triumphantly as he immediatelysnatched it up and revealed his hand. With the addition of Harold’s discarded card, Eugene managedto complete a relatively low-tier combination to win the round.

Even though the win wasn’t particularly spectacular and wasn’t augmented by any bonusconsiderations, it nevertheless still cut Harold deeply as it represented a direct win that Eugene hadover him.